The patent-pending Newtrax RF-based Motion/Proximity Detection technology monitors the signal distortions caused by the environment through which RF electromagnetic waves propagate to detect aperiodic motion and proximity of objects.

Comparing Newtrax RF sensor with sensors based on other physical phenomena

	RF sensor	Radar	Thermal	Magnetic	Acoustic	Seismic
Orientation invariant (3D)
No line-of-sight shadowing
Wide area influence field
Multiple sensors can coexist in same area
Reasonable signal processing
Ultra low power (<1mW)
Extended operating temperature range (-40°C to +85°C)
No special packaging required
Low cost

Patterns extracted by the Newtrax RF-based Motion/Proximity Detection expert system

Technology benefits

Excellent probability of detection	3D vigilance, reliable performance across industrial temperature range of -40C to +85C, unconstrained by shadowing of objects, wide area of influence and takes advantage of mesh network for redundant coverage.
Energy efficient	Reuses the periodic/aperiodic packet transmissions required for network control or data transfers for detection. The only additional energy consumption is the expert system processing on the microcontroller.
Cost effective	Reuses the same microcontroller, transceiver and antenna used for communications. No modifications to hardware is required.

Application

Borders, perimeters and battlefields

Automatic activation/deactivation of infrared, magnetic, acoustic and geophone sensors based on the presence/absence of motion in the surrounding environment;

Underground mines

Automatic activation/deactivation of the ad hoc network discovery protocols required for tracking of personnel and vehicles based on the presence/absence of nomadic nodes in the tunnel;

Intermodal supply chains

Automatic activation/deactivation of new node ad hoc network discovery protocols and of six-sides integrity sensors based on the presence/absence of motion in the surrounding environment;

Technical overview

Variations in RF Received Signal Strength (RSS) are caused by noise, third party communications and multipath fading/construction.

The Newtrax RF volumetric intrusion detection expert system firmware embedded in Newtrax Wireless Nodes analyses the RSS measurements within the Newtrax low energy ad hoc wireless Mesh/FHSS network (Figure 2) to extract aperiodic multipath fading/construction variations potentially caused by a large object entering the environment through which the RF waves propagate.

The Newtrax expert system then applies pattern recognition algorithms to the extracted signal component to detect intrusions (Figure 1). For example, thresholds on the amplitude of variations enables discrimination of temperature fluctuations, effect of wind on foliage, etc. from intrusions by large objects like humans, vehicles, containers, etc..